CCT470: 21st Century Baseball Card Assigned: September 22nd Due: Oct. 13th (will be reviewed in in-class pinup) Evaluation: 15% of final mark
"I don't think baseball could survive without all the statistical appurtenances involved in calculating pitching, hitting and fielding percentages. Some people could do without the games as long as they got the box scores." - John M. Culkin in New York Times (July 13, 1976)
Overview: With this first assignment we'll grapple with a reasonably simple visualization project – the representation of major league baseball player statistics. In carrying out this task, each student will be charged with rethinking the graphic standards of the conventional baseball card and proposing an alternate—more visual—version of the baseball card.
Exercise: Each student will receive a unique 1989 Topps baseball card for a player with more than five years experience. Using some or all of this information, create a visual representation of this player data and design a new baseball card. This could be executed as a performance timeline, a series of graphs or an opportunity to develop an alternate, more idiosyncratic approach. An illustrator template has been provided below and each student should work on this document as the completed work should be in the dimensions of the original card – a scale that demands close attention to keep the work legible. The completed work will be printed out and pinned up and serve as the basis of a group discussion (and design review) that will occur in class on our class on October 13th.
Assigned Cards: Each student will receive their card/player in class on the 22nd (students whose names are in red have not picked up their cards yet – they should definitely be in class on the 29th). Details on which student is assigned which player are below.
Dan Cedric Arevalo – Kirby Puckett
Kevin Carey – Ernie Whitt
Azarmeen Dastoor – Howard Johnson Maciej Derulski – Robin Yount
Magdalena Ho – Lloyd Moseby
Randy Jerome Landicho – Dave Winfield
Sophia Margaret Leonard – Frank White
Nolyseth Lomigo – Bob Horner
Ishita Luther – Rick Cerone
Synthia Truong – Don Mattingly
Reference: If you need a quick primer on any of the stats (or basic baseball terminology) please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_statistics – which is a switchboard for pages on all major statistics.
Design Constraints:
You are only required to represent the last five years of your player's performance – do not represent their entire career (that might be very difficult for veterans!). This way everybody is dealing with the same amount of data.
You are expected to significantly overhaul the back of your card and replace the standard table with a visual solution – the front of your 'baseball card for the 21st century' should contain no statistical information (you may rework the typography/photography on the front of your card if you like but simply scanning and using the existing front is fine).
You are not required to use all the information on the back of your card. If you want to leave out certain stats (or the trivia) that is fine, select the data that helps you paint an interesting picture about your player. E.g. SB (Stolen Bases) would probably tell very little about a power hitter, but might be a crucial statistic for a lead-off hitter.
If you want to incorporate other statistics that is acceptable, but they need to be ones that could be derived with the data that is available on the card.
No students have been assigned pitchers – all data is related to batting and fielding.
The player name must be on both the front and back of the card.
Final projects must be printed at the scale of the illustrator template (a 'life sized' baseball card front and back, side by side) – do not scale your document up when printing.
If you are clueless about baseball – make sure to talk to me or a knowledgable peer. Data is data though, and we don't always have the luxury of knowing the field it is derived from very well.
Workflow: There is no need for a complex design workflow here – this assignment could easily be completed in Adobe Illustrator. Don't let figuring out an esoteric software application get in the way of doing good work (and there is no sense using a tool unless it can export to a file format that can be opened in Illustrator). Hint: print your design as you work on it – that will help you iterate and tune your font size and graphics for optimial legibility.
Submission Guidelines: Students are expected to have their work printed in colour (unless they have designed in grayscale) and ready for review on the 13th. A special page will be added to the wiki and all students must upload a PNG of their work to this page.
Any work that is not completed, printed and pinned up on October 13th is considered late and will be subject to the late policy detailed on the syllabus. A project is not 'complete' until it has been uploaded to the wiki and failure to upload/share work constitutes lateness.
Evaluation: Projects will be evaluated on legibility, imagination, typography, overall clarity and ambition – students that fail to follow the 'design contraints' section will be penalized.
Assigned: September 22nd
Due: Oct. 13th (will be reviewed in in-class pinup)
Evaluation: 15% of final mark
"I don't think baseball could survive without all the statistical appurtenances involved in calculating pitching, hitting and fielding percentages. Some people could do without the games as long as they got the box scores." - John M. Culkin in New York Times (July 13, 1976)
Overview: With this first assignment we'll grapple with a reasonably simple visualization project – the representation of major league baseball player statistics. In carrying out this task, each student will be charged with rethinking the graphic standards of the conventional baseball card and proposing an alternate—more visual—version of the baseball card.
Exercise: Each student will receive a unique 1989 Topps baseball card for a player with more than five years experience. Using some or all of this information, create a visual representation of this player data and design a new baseball card. This could be executed as a performance timeline, a series of graphs or an opportunity to develop an alternate, more idiosyncratic approach. An illustrator template has been provided below and each student should work on this document as the completed work should be in the dimensions of the original card – a scale that demands close attention to keep the work legible. The completed work will be printed out and pinned up and serve as the basis of a group discussion (and design review) that will occur in class on our class on October 13th.
Assigned Cards: Each student will receive their card/player in class on the 22nd (students whose names are in red have not picked up their cards yet – they should definitely be in class on the 29th). Details on which student is assigned which player are below.
Dan Cedric Arevalo – Kirby Puckett
Kevin Carey – Ernie Whitt
Azarmeen Dastoor – Howard Johnson
Maciej Derulski – Robin Yount
Magdalena Ho – Lloyd Moseby
Randy Jerome Landicho – Dave Winfield
Sophia Margaret Leonard – Frank White
Nolyseth Lomigo – Bob Horner
Ishita Luther – Rick Cerone
Synthia Truong – Don Mattingly
Reference: If you need a quick primer on any of the stats (or basic baseball terminology) please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_statistics – which is a switchboard for pages on all major statistics.
Design Constraints:
If you are clueless about baseball – make sure to talk to me or a knowledgable peer. Data is data though, and we don't always have the luxury of knowing the field it is derived from very well.
Workflow: There is no need for a complex design workflow here – this assignment could easily be completed in Adobe Illustrator. Don't let figuring out an esoteric software application get in the way of doing good work (and there is no sense using a tool unless it can export to a file format that can be opened in Illustrator). Hint: print your design as you work on it – that will help you iterate and tune your font size and graphics for optimial legibility.
Submission Guidelines: Students are expected to have their work printed in colour (unless they have designed in grayscale) and ready for review on the 13th. A special page will be added to the wiki and all students must upload a PNG of their work to this page.
Any work that is not completed, printed and pinned up on October 13th is considered late and will be subject to the late policy detailed on the syllabus. A project is not 'complete' until it has been uploaded to the wiki and failure to upload/share work constitutes lateness.
Evaluation: Projects will be evaluated on legibility, imagination, typography, overall clarity and ambition – students that fail to follow the 'design contraints' section will be penalized.